Kiribati is commonly among the first countries to enter a new calendar year because Kiritimati uses UTC+14.
Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is part of Kiribati's Line Islands. Its position near the International Date Line and its time-zone arrangement place it at UTC+14, the world's most advanced civil time zone. As a result, the island reaches midnight before most populated places on Earth.
Kiribati moved the International Date Line for its eastern islands in 1994, aligning the country's inhabited islands on the same calendar day. Before that change, parts of Kiribati could be separated by a date difference despite belonging to one nation.
“First” depends on the comparison being made: a place can be first by civil time without being the first large city or the first densely populated location. Kiritimati is also different from Kiribati's capital, South Tarawa, which lies in a different time zone.